User Reviews

If 1965's The Seven Golden Men was akin to Mission: Impossible, then the sequel is pure James Bond, complete with submarines, hovercraft, jet packs and gadgets galore. This time out the United States Government recruit the Professor and his band of bold thieves to kidnap the General - a bushy bearded, Communist dictator of a small Central American island (read Fidel Castro). The requested fee for this service: seven million dollars, naturally, plus the deed to their own private island and absolution for all past misdeeds. However while Giorgia is sent off to seduce the General, and our gold happy crew put the elaborate clockwork plan into motion, the Professor casts his eye toward his real prize: a tanker harbored at the island country with seven thousand tons of gold bricks in its hold.

The Seven Golden Men Strike Again is more outrageous than its predecessor. The set pieces are bigger, the gimmicks are more elaborate and the humor is far less subtle. However, all of this works to the film's benefit by giving a broad, bright, campy look and feel that distinguishes it from the first movie. Unfortunately, after maintaining this originality for 90% of the film, the script stumbles unnecessarily back into too familiar territory at the end. In the first film the fast and furious piling up of double and triple crosses was fresh and fun; this time it all feels forced and unnecessary. If the movie had ended only five minutes earlier it would have been a much better film. Despite this failing, The Seven Golden Men Strike Again is still an entertaining romp of the kind that could only have been produced in the swinging, psychedelic '60s.

Like the first film, The Seven Golden Men Strike Again is available in a sharp widescreen DVD release in Japan, however this one has only the original Italian soundtrack, with no English alternative. There are optional subtitles, in Japanese.

Remember Seven Golden Men? No? Well, this is obviously the sequel to that film, written and directed by the same man, Marco Vicario.

Philippe Leroy (The Mother of Tears, Mannaja) Rossana Podesta (Hera from Cozzi's Hercules), Maurice Poli (Rabid Dogs), Manuel Zarzo (Nightmare City), Gabriele Tinti (Lisa and the Devil) and Giampiero Albertini (The Case of the Bloody Iris) all show up.

This time, The Professor (Leroy) and his men are captured by U.S. agents as they try to rob a train. To keep out of prison, they must kidnap a Latin dictator, but there's so much gold that gets in the way.

Fats-moving, lots of gadgets and wow, Podesta is the real selling point of the film, acting above it all and sexy even when menaced by poisonous spiders.

After watching the very cumbersome and pointless original, I was hoping at least the music would be gone for the sequel. But no, it's there and I must endure another hundred minutes of those painful sounds that include whistling and ba da ba over and over, sounds that will give you a hangover even if you are not having a glass of chianti with it. But Rossana Podestà is back with all of her wild fashions, and that one makes this worth a one time look.

Different devices set up another caper plot that takes you pretty much on a very similar journey, although thankfully with different locations so you can explore some of that great European scenery. Plots in films like this really don't matter. All you end up doing is looking at the scenery, the wild costumes and thrilled to the various car chases. This time, the robbery occurs through the hijacking of a bank train car that comes out of its own private tunnel, so it's not exactly the same but not much different.